Blood Drinker
A strong smell of blood wafted from the right, and Shi Youchen stopped in his tracks. He heard some movement in the weeds over there.
It sounded like a wild beast biting and gnawing its prey.
Faced with the unknown, people instinctively feel fear and curiosity. Finally, driven by various reasons, Shi Youchen took out the tranquilizer gun from his pocket and carefully approached the source of the sound.
Perhaps the beast over there was still feeding, so the rustling of the weeds didn't alarm it. The smell of blood grew stronger and stronger, until Shi Youchen, with one hand holding the tranquilizer gun ready to fire, gently brushed aside the last of the slightly damp weeds with the other, completely exposing the scene there to his view.
A few snakes, each as thick as a bowl, were scattered across the grass, motionless. Their bodies, which should have been plump and plump, were now shrunken and clung to the ground, as withered as fallen petals tucked into the mud.
The predator was neither an eagle nor a ferocious beast. It sat cross-legged in front of Shi Youchen, its back to him. It didn't stop moving, even making "hissing" sounds as it ate. After seeing clearly what it was wearing, Shi Youchen pulled the trigger, and the thick anesthetic needle shot out.
The needle was blocked by the thick coat, and the timing of the attack was wrong.
The reason was very simple. The moment Shi Youchen took action, he saw a piece of its arm exposed from the side, a forearm that was obviously a human.
Shi Youchen had not only seen that loose coat before, but had also smelled it up close. It was the coat Hassan had worn the last time they met. Shi Youchen's impression of Hassan was of a sturdy, dark-skinned young man with a hint of highland red on his cheeks. But the man before him now had most of his face stained with blood, making him impossible to recognize.
The snake he was holding was also shrunken, and if you looked closely, you could see several bite marks on it. Seeing the person behind him, his movements were completely different from his slightly bloody face. He panicked and let go of the long-dead snake, throwing it away. As he hurriedly stood up, he wiped the blood off his face with his dirty sleeve.
But it spread the blood even further.
"Hassan?" Shi Youchen didn't put down the tranquilizer gun. He calmly aimed it at the man's forehead and asked, "What are you doing?"
The boy wanted to step forward, but seeing Shi Youchen's tense figure and expression, he came to his senses. He raised his hand and took two steps back, stepping right on the half-eaten snake's body. "I...I'm not..." He looked like a child caught in trouble by his parents, his voice trembling as if he was about to burst into tears.
Shi Youchen didn't press him for an explanation, but simply stared at him with the muzzle of his gun. This helped Hassan regain some of his sanity, and his wandering gaze fell on the messy ground, on his own smelly hands, and then on the wary eyes of the brown-haired, thick-browed man across from him.
...
After an unknown amount of time, two figures slowly appeared somewhere in the desolate valley. They came closer, and closer, and they were Hassan and Shi Youchen.
Shi Youchen put the muzzle of the gun against the back of Hassan's neck and followed him forward with a suspicious look on his face.
Hassan's face was clean of blood, and his hands were clasped together, a gesture he had requested. "We're almost there." This was the first time Hassan had brought a living creature to this secret place. "I buried them under a large tree."
Amidst the bleak, withered colors of the surroundings, a touch of verdant green stands out. A giant tree, brimming with life, stands out from the surroundings. Its branches and leaves sway in the wind, as if welcoming a long-absent guest.
Hassan's eyes lit up: "That's it! We're here!" After being caught by Shi Youchen drinking blood, he was extremely panicked for a while. The secrets of many years were suddenly exposed to others. For Hassan, this was no less shocking than being driven out of the tribe.
Fortunately, despite the tense atmosphere, neither side took action, giving the other side enough time to calm down.
After calming down, Hassan decided to tell Shi Youchen everything about his situation, and Shi Youchen chose to listen.
Then, under Hassan's narration, the story of a wandering boy slowly flowed into Shi Youchen's memory.
He was born in a grassland tribe on the western plateau of Region 8. He was originally a child with a name and parents, but since some time ago, the cattle and sheep that came into contact with him would easily become sick and die suddenly. Even the flowers and plants that had always been tenacious would easily wither. Even people who came into contact with him too much would easily contract serious diseases.
Therefore, he has always been regarded as an ominous person by people in the tribe, including his family.
When he was twelve years old, his parents died of a serious illness. He was not even qualified to keep vigil for his parents, as he was driven out of the grassland by his uncle, who was the leader of the tribe at the time, and began to wander from then on.
He lived with the sky as his blanket and the ground as his bed, heading north to this unfamiliar mountain range. He found a few simple necessities in a deserted old village at the foot of the mountain, and then went up the mountain to live in seclusion. At first, the boy still relied on wild fruits, tree bark, rabbits, and wild birds to fill his stomach, but as his body grew, these things could no longer provide the energy he needed for growth.
Gradually, he began to crave meat, longing for food that could give him more strength. This desire was helplessly suppressed until one autumn.
The young man wanted to go down the mountain to the village to get some supplies for the winter, but he found several bodies lying in a corner room. They looked recently deceased, but they were obviously not villagers, but a group of outside explorers. After hesitating, he took the explorers' equipment back to his small camp in the mountains, thinking of going down the mountain the next day to find a place to bury them properly.
But the next day, something strange happened. Somehow, the corpses attracted the crows that were supposed to be in the mountains. The exceptionally large black crows devoured the naked, decaying corpses, and the boy stumbled upon the scene, which was filled with the strong smell of blood.
He did not feel sick, but became excited all over. Finally, he could no longer suppress his desire and sucked the cold blood of the explorers in a daze.
After tasting the blood, the boy was surprised to discover that he had acquired some special abilities. His vision had become exceptionally clear, his body had become noticeably stronger, and he had an inexplicable desire to speak and communicate. Most importantly, after drinking the blood, he actually felt no hunger for a long time. This was undoubtedly great news for someone wandering alone in the mountains.
So, the next time he felt hungry, he bravely tried the blood of a mountain rabbit. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that animal blood also had a positive effect. After trying the blood of different animals several times, he even gained the strength to fight large and venomous creatures. From then on, he relied on the explorers' supplies, old items from the village, and his habit of drinking blood to live quietly in the mountains. Until... someone showed up.
"You're the first living person I've seen in all these years." Hassan led Shi Youchen to the foot of a large tree, where several mounds of earth had indeed risen. "I'll bury them here. It's better than having those big black crows carry off even the bones."
Shi Youchen pinched a handful of dirt. It was indeed old soil. "You said you felt the urge to drink blood when you saw the corpse being devoured by crows," Shi Youchen asked Hassan. "Didn't you want to drink my blood back then?"
Hassan shook his head quickly and said, "No, no, no. I drink blood regularly just to survive. I have no reason to be bloodthirsty. Besides, you were still alive when I found you. How could I drink human blood?" Facing Shi Youchen's doubtful eyes, he swore, "I swear on my life, I really just want to live quietly, live as a human being."
Shi Youchen observed for a long time, finally putting away the tranquilizer gun in his hand, and then untied Hassan's hands. He had completely believed that Hassan's words were true. At least he just wanted to survive and had no intention of harming anyone.
The two sat down against a tree trunk to rest. Shi Youchen told Hassan that he had some abnormalities in his body: "It might be related to you."
Hassan was surprised. "It's related to me? Is it something bad?"
Thinking of the medical department's test conclusion, Shi Youchen was a little worried: "Not sure, most likely." Then he saw Hassan's frustrated expression of "as expected".
"At least it's not that bad now," he comforted the boy. "Your desire to drink blood may be due to your strong 'savage'. Do you know what 'savage' means?"
Hassan sighed. "I know. Among the cattle and sheep raised by our tribe, there are occasionally a few that are particularly stubborn. We need several obedient and strong people to lead them. My father said that's because they are particularly wild."
Shi Youchen: "Well, so it's not your fault, it's just biological instinct." His words made Hassan suddenly enlightened, and his expression was no longer so gloomy.
Before leaving, Shi Youchen handed the watch on his right wrist to Hassan and said, "Keep this. Even if you are alone, remember that besides this mountain, there is still time to accompany you."
After bidding farewell to Hassan for the second time, Shi Youchen returned to the association's base. He hadn't discovered the exact cause of the body's energy decline, but his trip wasn't entirely fruitless. However, to his surprise, a post-mission physical examination the next day revealed that the decline in his energy fluctuations had actually stopped.
The file for "Energy Elimination Event No. 37" was shelved. This result was undoubtedly good news for the team members, but it made Shi Youchen begin to doubt it and fell into deep thought.
Because his energy has recovered, he was told that he could return to the team and start leading the mission again. At the same time, a new member was added to his team, which was another guarantee for the team's restart.
The new team's first meeting was held in the mission office lobby. Shi Youchen followed the chattering Ah Huai into the building and saw a familiar figure from behind.
"Captain, let me introduce you! This is the new team member who helped us on two missions while you were away!" Ah Huai's voice gradually faded away. In front of Shi Youchen, the new team member extended his hand and smiled politely: "Hello, Captain, I am the new member joining the team starting today."
"Number: 6474, Level 5 Natural Ability User, Yan Zhiyuan."
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